


He Was Dead, To Begin With

by Vadianna



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Comedy, Darth Vader comes back from the dead to kinkshame his grandson, Domination, M/M, Pre-TFA, Tarkin hates Hux, The Feeling Is Mutual, everyone is evil here, some truly Godless Vader/Tarkin smut is described, the porn is mostly descriptions, they are kinkshamed too hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-11 07:47:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7039117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vadianna/pseuds/Vadianna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A slightly younger Hux and Kylo are visited separately by the ghosts of Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader.  Their elders are not pleased with their... extracurriculars.  They aren't pleased with their elders.  Talks are had.  Elders are disrespected.  Privacy is violated.  Nobody is happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Was Dead, To Begin With

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Начнём с того, что он был мёртв](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13263804) by [Protego_Maxima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Protego_Maxima/pseuds/Protego_Maxima)



> Art by [@kylostahp](http://kylostahp.tumblr.com).
> 
> Advisory: Tarkin is unashamed of his physical relationship with Darth Vader, who, as you remember, was very badly injured at the end of Episode III. Tarkin's going to talk about that. Brace yourself.

"Hux."

Hux's eyes flew open, and in one fluid motion he sat up in bed, grabbed his blaster, and fired it in the direction of the speaker in the dark of his bedroom.

He saw the man: Older, very gaunt, wearing an ancient Galactic Empire uniform. He couldn't get a good look at his face, as the man had turned to look at the smoldering ruin of Hux's closet. He could see the bare outline of the man from the small flames licking at the remnants of his uniforms and the door of his closet.

Hux wasn't sure if he should be more dismayed over the passive older man in his bedroom, or the fact that he had just destroyed all his clothes. He decided both, and to take it out on the speaker.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my bedroom?"

The man turned back to regard Hux cooly. His face was thin to the point of being skeletal, and his hair was reddish-brown streaked with gray, and slicked back. He wore a gray uniform that Hux had correctly identified at first glance as a Galactic Empire uniform. He was standing at attention, with his hands behind his back, and his cool blue gaze leveled at Hux.

"Excitable, aren't you? What if I had been your lover?"

Hux was struck speechless for a moment, blinked, then decided to take it as a general comment rather than a statement of knowledge. "My lover knows better than to sneak up on me when I'm sleeping. What are you doing in my bedroom?"

"Mmm." The man gave a noncommittal answer, and continued to stand motionless, staring at Hux down the long, prominent bridge of his nose. "You're fucking the apprentice Sith, are you not?"

Hux froze, trying to decide how to respond to this. His first impulse had been to run his hand through his hair, which would have given himself away. His second impulse was to jump out of bed and strangle the man, but he was naked, and he couldn't tell if the man was armed. After a moment, the man interrupted his considerations.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have phrased that as a question, as it has struck you dumb. I know you're fucking Kylo Ren."

Hux frowned. His gaze had wandered away from the man as he had weighed his responses, but they focused back on him. His hands were bracing himself on either side of the bed, the sheet in his lap. He and Kylo were trying to keep their relationship discreet, though obviously something had given them away. Still, there was no crime in it, so Hux decided to be bold. "Yes, I'm fucking Kylo Ren. I'm not sure why that's your business, though, or who you even are."

The man sighed, sounding put upon. "It's not my business, and I couldn't care less. I was sent here by someone else who cares more about Kylo Ren than they do for you, frankly." The man paused for a moment. "And perhaps you should show me some respect. I clearly outrank you."

Hux glanced down briefly, trying to take this in, but mostly latched on to the slight at the end. He met the stranger's eyes, angrily. "First off, nobody outranks me in my bedroom, when I'm sleeping, unless they get to the fucking point faster than you have. Second, you _clearly_ decided to dress up in a 30-year-old uniform, you don't _clearly_ outrank me until you tell me your name and rank."

"Perhaps you're blind, or ignorant."

Hux rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you're wearing the correct uniform, _Grand Moff_." Hux spat out the title sarcastically. "I've seen Grand Moff Randd, and you're not him."

The man frowned, looking slightly disconcerted. "I was an Admiral before I was promoted. I still outrank you, Commander Hux."

Hux rolled his eyes again. "There are no admirals on this shitbucket ship. Why don't we try again, this time with your name and why you woke me up from a dead sleep."

The man sighed again, closing his eyes in resignation. "Very well. I'm Admiral Tarkin."

Hux stared, closer this time. "Yeah, you do look like Tarkin, down to the uniform and skullface. But now that leaves me with someone dressed as a governor that died over thirty years ago. Listen, I'm about three seconds away from throwing you into the cells below. As I said, get to the fucking point."

The man looked abashed, ruffled for the first time. His stance relaxed slightly. "Skullface?"

"Maybe you're the deaf one. You have a skullface."

The man's mouth hung open, and he stared in disbelief for a moment before regaining his composure and parade rest posture. "You are one of the most rude and disrespectful people I've ever met. You will not throw me in the cells, because, among other reasons, you just incinerated all your clothing."

Hux gritted his teeth at the reminder. "Okay then, I'm calling in the guards. I don't have to have clothes to do that. See you, Skullface."

The man was silent for a moment while he watched Hux reach for his PD, then interrupted him as Hux dialed. "I'm tempted to let you call them, because it would leave you with a censure for calling a false alarm. You're the only one who can see me."

Hux lowered his PD. "Listen Skullface, this is going to go even worse for you if I have to shout over you to have your ass hauled away."

"They can't hear me, either. I wouldn't warn you, as I find you offensive, but if you're censured, it will upset Kylo Ren, and I'll have to hear about it later. I'd rather not."

Hux squinted. "Why do you keep bringing up Kylo Ren?"

"Because you're fucking him, and that's why I'm here."

Hux paused for a moment, his voice softening. "Are you on the personnel and ethics committee? You're going to have to prove I fuck him."

"I'm not on the committee, and I don't need to prove you fuck him. You and I both know you do."

Hux gritted his teeth, unwilling to make a concession, but fed up and vaguely creeped out by the whole conversation. "Okay, who are you, really?"

"You have the intellect of a Banta. We've already established that I'm Wilhuff Tarkin."

"We've established that you look and dress like him. We also established that he was killed in the Battle of Yavin some decades ago."

"I recall it quite clearly. I was there."

"You were not, or you wouldn't be here right now."

"I'm a ghost, you halfwit. Why do you think your gun fired through me?"

Hux paused, and the two contemplated each other in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Hux grabbed his blaster and fired into the man again. Once again, it passed straight through him and into the closet, where the fire caused from the first blast had just gone out. This blast didn't start another, but mostly because all of Hux's clothing had already been incinerated. The man glowed faintly in the darkness, once the fire and the flash from the blaster shots had faded from Hux’s retinas.

Hux stared at the man in disbelief, while the man stared cooly back. Hux fired into him three more times for good measure, and paused again. The man spoke up.

"Perhaps you'd like to fire your blaster a few dozen more times into your ruined closet to prove, definitively, that I am insubstantial and you possess the reasoning abilities of a five-year-old."

Hux lowered the blaster and looked down into his lap, processing this. He looked back up, wearily. “I’ve heard about… ghosts, and whatever, but my source also tells me he’s some sort of wizard, just not powerful enough to use his powers. I humor him, but other people seem to believe that, so.” Hux shrugged. “Maybe he’s right about the ghosts. This is a little hard to take in. I…” his face folded in distaste, “can see that my blaster has no effect on you, but quite frankly, that’s all I’ll believe about this situation.”

“Believe what you’d like. I don’t believe that you’d do anything to humor your partner, myself.”

Hux had turned his head away, to gaze into darkness and contemplate what was happening. Suddenly, his head jerked back around. "Ky- uh, Lord Ren mentioned that Force users see the dead. Am I Force sensitive?"

At this, the man's composure broke, and he laughed uproariously. "A... a Force user? Oh... I'll... I'll have to remember to tell it like that later." The man wiped at his eyes, then got himself back under rigid control. "No. Neither you nor I are a Force user. I'm just a ghost. You're just a 23-year-old who likes to make his sexual partner beg on the floor before satisfying them."

Hux blinked again, deciding he probably didn't need to be ashamed or worried about a CO finding out about his and Kylo's relationship if this really was the ghost of Wilhuff Tarkin. "Do you know that because you're a ghost? Do you watch us?"

Tarkin got a look of mild distaste on his face before smoothing his features again. "God, no. I have better things to do than watch two boys roll around and inexpertly grope each other. My partner does not."

"Your partner watches us?"

"He watches Ben."

This time, it was Hux who had the look of distaste on his face. "Don't call him that."

"I'll call him whatever I want. I'm dead."

"So you're actually Wilhuff Tarkin?"

The look of distaste flitted across Tarkin's features again. "Maybe I should tell you a fifth time, so you can be sure."

Hux scowled. "Look Skullface, I don't wake up to ghosts leaning over my bed every night. My original question still stands. What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I don't like it any more than you do. But my partner asked me to speak to you, he thinks you aren't treating Ben well."

Hux recoiled from the use of Kylo's given name again. "Who's your partner then, Skullface?"

"Perhaps you slept through history class, or know even less about Ben than I would consider polite to fuck a man. My partner is Darth Vader."

Hux paused, and squinted. "When you say partner, do you mean professionally, or... personally."

"I mean both, you nosy little shit."

Hux looked down into his lap again, looked back up, unable to hide his genuine curiosity. "What was that like?"

The corners of Tarkin's mouth came down a fraction more. "He was a broken man. We found peace with each other late in life. I was never his dead wife, but she had been gone for some time when we became intimate."

"You misunderstood. I don't give a shit about your relationship. I was asking if Darth Vader was into getting a blowjob from a corpse." Hux made a gesture, encompassing Tarkin's frame. "You know, literally fucking a skull."

Tarkin seemed taken aback by this crudity, but his eyes narrowed. "I have more respect for him than you do for your Ben. It's why he sent me."

Hux raised his eyebrows. "You keep telling me I lack respect. Perhaps you should pass on some words of wisdom from Lord Ren's grandfather on what he thinks his grandson should prefer in bed."

Tarkin blinked at him, and continued. "What you two do is disgraceful. Ben is shaming his grandfather by letting you tie him up and forcing him to fellate you while on the floor. He is better than that. His power deserves more respect, if nothing else. And only subhumans treat others that way."

"I doubt very much I could force an apprentice Sith to give me a blowjob against his will. I would hope that Darth Vader, of all people, could realize this. Perhaps you twisted Darth Vader's arm in the past?"

Tarkin's eyes narrowed. "I never forced him to do anything. And he couldn't fellate me. He would have died if he had removed the breathing apparatus for any length of time."

Hux let his jaw drop. "So the mask stayed on during sex?"

"I know you're fond of wearing his to subjugate him. Perhaps you should stop that as well, as it's something else that's shaming the dead."

"Perhaps the dead should mind their own business and stay out of the room when we're having sex." Hux paused, then decided he had to know. "So how much of his stuff had to stay on during sex, if he needed the breathing equipment? I mean, I don't know what the technology was like at the time. Was it all in the mask, or did he have to leave parts of his body armor on, too?"

Tarkin smiled coldly. "Just how much of this do you want to know?"

"At least as much as you know about what gets me off. It seems only fair."

Tarkin leaned forward slightly, keeping the same expressionless look on his face. A chill went down Hux's spine.

"We would switch. When it was his turn to do the fucking, he would leave all his armor on."

Hux grimaced. "You let him fuck you with all his armor on? Isn't that... wasn't it like getting fucked by a robot?"

"Oh yes. He was badly burned just when he began his Sith training. His limbs were all artificial. He was surprisingly... strong. He used his strength instead of the Force."

"You..." Hux's thoughts derailed as he thought of the possibilities inherent in using the Force. They hadn't tried it yet. Hux began to get an erection as he thought of Kylo forcing him into the mattress-

"I'm disturbed that you are turned on by the sex lives of others."

Hux brought his mind back to the current situation. "Listen, that's the least disturbing thing happening right now. I'm being accosted by the ghost of Grand Moff Tarkin, who tells me my sex life is so raucous that I'm waking the dead, and then he proceeds to tell me that he enjoyed being fucked by... a literal robot! How much of him was still a man?"

"His head and torso. When it was my turn, we would take off all his armor and artificial limbs. He had a small breathing apparatus that would work temporarily. So it was just him-"

"STOP." Hux put his hands over his ears. "Fucking... fuck. I did not need that mental image."

Tarkin straightened back up, frowning slightly. "There's no shame in enjoying the body of your lover."

"I don't understand why the ghosts of your ancestors didn't come back to tell you to stop that, or to stop being fucked by a robot."

Tarkin shrugged. "I suspect some of my ancestors may have been interested in... the wildlife on my home planet, let's say, and wouldn't have had a basis for criticism. But they weren't Force-sensitive. Ben's are. As I said, I would not be here, speaking to you, if Lord Vader had not insisted."

"Did you just... tell me your dad fucked animals?" Hux shook his head. "Don't answer that. But I do have to know, did Vader tell you to come here and tell me how you violated his badly injured body?"

"Perhaps you should let Ben keep his helmet. I highly recommend it."

"STOP." Hux shifted in bed, considered getting up. Decided he needed to, because he desperately needed a drink. Stood up stark naked, went to his cabinet, and poured a shot of cheap whiskey, downing it quickly. He looked levelly at Tarkin, then took another shot.

"Why. Are. You. Here?"

Tarkin shrugged. "You disrespect Ben. That's all there is to it. I was told to come and talk you out of it, to tell you of the physical pleasure you can experience between two people when you respect each other, love each other."

"You... you didn't! You did the exact opposite! Now I'm going to have nightmares of being drilled by Darth Vader, in his full armor, with his robot limbs and his breathing apparatus on, in revenge for plowing his grandson." Hux trailed off, took another shot of whiskey.

"You're going to regret that in the morning."

"I'm regretting you right now. How can I make you go away?"

Tarkin took several steps forward, staring pointedly, and witheringly, at Hux's genitals. Hux resisted the urge to cover up, deciding he had nothing to hide from a ghost that seemed to know his carnal preferences anyway.

"You are a small man. You're emotionally stunted, and there's no love between you and your partner. I sincerely hope Ben finds someone who values his company more than you. You will never go anywhere in life, in this organization, you lack the drive. You don't have what it takes. Ben will complete his training, kill you, and you will have just been an embarrassing time in his past."

Hux stared at him, then walked back over to his bed and got in, trying to pull the sheets up over his head. "Lord Ren is unlikely to find someone else who... matches his sexual tastes so exactly. He's welcome to leave any time he wants to. In case you and his grandfather are blind to his flaws, Lord Ren is also socially stunted, and won't be able to talk his way into another relationship even if he wanted to. If you want Lord Ren to leave me, I suggest you talk to him."

Tarkin blew air out his nose. "Disappointing. As I knew you would be. You love power, but have none to wield yourself."

"You're fairly disappointing yourself. And you obviously don't know when to give up. I'm told that's why you went down with the Death Star."

At this, Tarkin flickered and went out, a look of pure rage the first strong emotion that had shown on his face during the encounter.

Hux stood naked in the darkness, contemplating the place where the glowing apparition had stood, in front of his destroyed closet. He took another shot, the burn proving to himself that he was, in fact, awake.

Did he just shame a ghost, who admitted to getting a blowjob from Darth Vader’s torso, into disappearing?

“What the fuck.”

___

Kylo's eyes opened in the darkness to the faint sound of ventilation he could not identify. He blinked several times, trying to figure out why this sound was in his quarters, on the shuttle, in the middle of the night. Was it a circulation malfunction?

Still half-asleep, he rolled over and dialed the lights up to ten percent. On his back, he stared up at the ceiling, trying to decide whether he was curious enough to get out of bed to investigate the problem. Probably not.

"Ben Solo." A mechanical exhale of breath. It was a breathing apparatus.

In a split-second, he was sitting up and had his lightsaber in his hand. In his haste, he had forgotten about the crossguard, and burned his sheets and wrist when the kyber crystal kicked back through the vents.

Through the loud crackling of the unstable weapon and Kylo's curses over his smoldering sheets and flesh, there was another mechanical exhale. "Power that off. You shame me. You lack even the focus to stabilize your weapon."

At this, Kylo looked up, more angry at the insult than the fact there was a stranger in his room. His protests died in his throat when he laid eyes on Darth Vader.

"Grandfather." He powered off his lightsaber and stood in the room, regarding the ghost of Darth Vader.

Darth Vader took a few more labored breaths, and there was a long enough pause for Kylo to wonder why the ghost needed to breathe before Darth Vader spoke again.

"I come to you in this form because there is still too much Light in you. You have not fully committed yourself to the Dark."

Kylo was having a hard time processing his grandfather, his role model to the Dark Side, standing in his room. He mistrusted that this was real, that it wasn't a dream, or a vision sent to him by the Force.

"It is a vision sent to you by the Force. It is also real. You don't believe in the Force as you should."

Kylo recoiled, and said the only thing running through his mind, over and over again, like an insane litany. "Why are you breathing?"

Darth Vader paused. His breathing stopped for one beat, two. Then he started again.

"Are you committed to following in my footsteps and filling my role in the Galaxy? Or would you like to run back to your mother and uncle and beg forgiveness for your crimes?"

"No!" Kylo stepped forward again, his deactivated lightsaber in his hand, forgotten. His voice wavered slightly, but he met the blank, impassive stare of the mask. "I will never return to the Light. I want more than anything to follow you, to surpass you, Grandfather." He looked down to the floor, and back up at the bluish glow of the man-sized ghost in black armor. "They told me... that when you died, you renounced the Dark. Uncle Luke told me... he saw you as a ghost, too, but you were Anakin Skywalker, then."

Certainly Darth Vader could sympathize with a struggle between Light and Dark, if he had submitted to the Light at the end of his life?

Darth Vader's breathing stopped once again, then started after a few seconds.

"Don't believe the lies of the Light. It is weakness such as this that prevent you from following in my footsteps, Ben."

Kylo flinched. "Ben Solo is gone. He died with the other Jedi. Why will you not use my true name?"

Darth Vader shifted. "Ben Solo is alive and well, standing in front of me. I see a pathetic, weak, and confused Jedi. Not an apprentice Sith given a title by his Master."

"I'm no Jedi!" Kylo gripped the lightsaber harder, then remembered himself. He looked down at the floor, still vaguely angry, despite the awe he felt by being visited by his grandfather. "I was given a name by my new Master. Kylo is the name Snoke gave me."

"Darth Kylo is ridiculous. He hasn't given you a proper one because you've failed to earn it."

Kylo looked away, annoyed both by the slight and by the fact that there were echoes of Hux’s taunts in his grandfather’s words. He closed his eyes to find calm and resolve. Now was not the time to lose his temper. He centered himself, then looked back at Darth Vader. "Tell me then, grandfather. What can I do to strengthen my powers in the Dark? Tell me how to move away from the Light. Tell me how to silence its call, it's pull on me." He stepped forward. "I want to know. More than anything."

Darth Vader breathed in, out. He did not move. Kylo still met the gaze of the mask, wished he was wearing his own stupid mask.

"You have... an attachment."

Kylo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I think you know what I mean."

His frown deepened. "My... lover?"

"Precisely. You need to sever the attachments you have to others. The Dark path is solitary. It contains only you and your master. Other attachments only tie you to Light."

Kylo looked away for a moment, looked back. "You had a wife. I was told... it was why you took the path to the Dark. Because the Jedi forbid emotional attachment. You apprenticed to Darth Sidious to save grandmother."

"I did not have her long, once I turned to the Dark Side."

Kylo looked down again, confused, and not sure whether he wanted to ask Darth Vader. He had been told that Padme Amidala had died, heartbroken, after realizing Anakin Skywalker had switched allegiances. In an uncharacteristically subtle conversation gambit, Kylo decided to skirt the issue.

"My partner does not object to my path. My feelings for him are a constant. My passion gives me strength, and through strength, there is power. Isn't this the Sith way? I would be denying my nature otherwise, and that is the Light."

Darth Vader stopped breathing again, started.

"You need to end the Commander with your own hands. Through destruction, you will gain power."

Kylo stepped back, appalled. "Grandfather... why?"

"He does not respect you. He will turn on you. Ultimately, he will be a stain on your past, and nothing to the great First Order, the rise of the New Empire."

Kylo stepped back again, his calves brushing the scorched sheets of the bed. "He... he wouldn't. Is this a vision of the future? I’d… I’d need to see it. To believe it."

"Grandson. You know so little of the world. Did your own family not betray you, lie to you, deny you your nature?"

"Hux doesn't do that! Hux knows what I am." Kylo paused, trying to think of reasons, anything, to tell his grandfather that this monstrous thing was wrong. His chest tightened at the thought, of what it would be like to put his lightsaber through Hux's chest rather than embracing him the next time they spoke.

The ghost of Darth Vader moved for the first time, raising his hand and showing Kylo what it would be like to be betrayed by Hux, by someone he loved even more than his parents, whose attention he craved desperately.

The feeling was intense, unpleasant... Kylo stumbled across a thought, confused, looked back at Darth Vader. "If he betrayed me, it would only fuel my hatred, give me more of the Dark. If he doesn't, my passion remains. Killing him does neither. I don't understand."

Darth Vader lowered his hand, took a step menacingly towards Kylo. His voice got louder, faster, more angry. "Will you stand to have him disrespect and humiliate you as he does?"

Kylo was flabbergasted. "What... does he do that? To the staff on the ship? He... I would have sensed..." Denial flooded his system, and he tried to picture Hux mocking him behind his back. Rage, betrayal, somewhat weakened when he could not summon a scenario where Hux spoke to someone about anything but work.

"No! Ben, you need to find self-respect in order to gain Power in the Dark Side. Weeping while you beg the Commander for release, naked on the floor and licking his boots, is absolutely disgraceful. You lack respect for yourself, and you lack respect for me."

Kylo sat down on the edge of his bed, his lightsaber falling, forgotten from his fingers, to clatter to the floor. His mind blanked momentarily while he attempted to process the fact that his grandfather knew about that. Once again, he said the only mad thought ricocheting through his head.

"Stop calling me Ben."

"And what should I call you? Do you prefer insolent whore? Dirty, disgraceful boy? Shameful, greedy slut?"

Kylo frowned, forgetting himself for a moment. "Yes. Wait, no!" His eyes widened, his gaze snapping back up to Darth Vader's helmet. "Why do you know... why do you know what he calls me... when..." he trailed off. He was unable to say the words to the dispassionate, shiny black helmet of his much-revered grandfather.

"When he has you on the floor, ass in the air, while he's fully dressed and making you beg to enter you roughly while you dribble come all over the floor from your aching cock?"

Kylo put his hands over his ears.

"I'm not speaking in a physical sense. Blocking your ears will not stop me from describing the way he rubs his erect, dripping penis all over your body while you are bound hand and foot, helpless, on the bed, weeping."

"NO." At this, he heard metal groaning as the panels in the wall were pushed out and he lashed out in anger with the Force.

"Perhaps you'd rather imagine him running his gloved hands through your hair as he jerks your head down to suck him off."

"FUCK." At this, he looked up and dropped his hands, and the ghost flickered for a moment before stabilizing. Darth Vader had approached the bed and was leaning over, taunting him. He straightened.

"We both know that this is a weakness that comes from you. Kill the insolent little man. Do not allow yourself to be debased in this manner any longer."

Kylo blinked at him. "How... how do you know all this? Are you reading my mind?"

"Do you think your actions don't also shame me? That the Force isn't in all things? That, once becoming One with the Force, I cannot do something so simple as watching you?"

Kylo narrowed his eyes. “But… I thought only Jedi became One with the Force when they died? Did you die a Jedi, or a Sith?”

The breathing apparatus stopped. Started again. Darth Vader was silent.

This was not an answer. As Kylo tried to parse the silence, another realization descended. "You... watch me have sex with Hux?" Kylo's voice shook, horrified.

"Of course. I watch your progress to the Dark Side with great interest. This unfortunately includes your... recreation." The last word spat out, in disgust.

Kylo was scandalized. That anyone would know what was between him and Hux was... horrible. He blushed, thinking of anyone but Hux knowing how Kylo liked to be used. Which, in private, was badly.

"Will... killing Hux really make me stronger, grandfather?" he asked weakly, not sure that he could find the strength to do it, even for his revered grandfather.

"Nothing would please me more, Ben. Do it."

His face fell. "Grandfather... will it make me stronger?"

"Strength is not the issue here. Self-respect is. Do it."

Kylo hung his head. Setting Hux aside, he thought he would likely have trouble finding another sex partner. Thinking about having sex with someone else... "Can I be physically intimate with someone? Or is that forbidden?" Snoke hadn't told him this, and he suspected Snoke knew he had a partner. Again, passion lending strength to the Sith made sense, so Kylo still wasn't sure why getting fucked by Hux was a bad thing.

Darth Vader stopped breathing again. It was a longer pause this time. He inhaled and spoke. "I suppose you will need to... fulfill needs. In your life. The Dark is easier with someone. But you will need to kill Hux and find someone who respects you."

Hux's lack of respect was the point of Kylo and Hux's relationship. Everyone else was afraid of Kylo, except for Hux, who was decidedly un-afraid of him. He didn't say this out loud, although he wondered if his grandfather could hear his thoughts right now.

"Will you watch me have sex with someone else, too?"

Darth Vader's breathing stuttered again, though it started very soon. He didn't answer.

Kylo grimaced. "I... don't want that."

"You will need to live with my guidance in your life."

Kylo's brow creased as his face folded sourly in on itself. "And killing Hux will make me stronger, in addition to pleasing you."

At this, Darth Vader's breathing stopped again. "Ben-" he began, putting his hand out.

Pushed over the edge by the final use of his given name, Kylo put his own hand out, and the ghost of Darth Vader vanished. Kylo stared into the darkness where it had been. He debated standing, looking down at himself. He realized he had had the whole conversation naked, and wasn't sure what to make of this.

He closed his eyes, exhaled. Normally, he would seek strength in the Dark Side. Beseech his grandfather for advice.

He decided not to, just now. Perhaps that had not been a wise course of action.

\---

"Bring clothes."

Kylo was slightly annoyed as he stepped off his large transport ship into the bay of the Saladin, the four Stormtroopers that he'd worked with on the mission dispersing around him. He had been expecting Hux to meet him here. They hadn't seen each other in almost two weeks, and Kylo had been badly shaken by his Force vision last night. He had wanted to believe it was a dream, but his sheets and wrist had still been burned by his lightsaber after he'd forced himself to calmness through meditation, then came back to himself. He ran his gloved fingers through his hair in irritation.

Hux often came to pick him up after missions, would request leisure time to coincide with Kylo's arrival. To have him absent was annoying, the comm about the clothes even more so. What clothes? Clothes for Hux? Kylo's clothes?

Kylo only had one change of clothes, so he brought it. By the time he had reached Hux's door, he had worked himself into a sulk. His grandfather's bizarre request rang through his head over and over, and in his current state, it was tempting. He leaned on Hux's entrance panel alarm for one long ring, then began to jab it furiously until he heard a voice yelling from the other side.

"Ren! Fuck's sake, I've told you the code three times! Let yourself in!"

Kylo paused, then decided Hux was going to have to come to him in some small way, today, after Kylo had come nearly three days across the galaxy eagerly awaiting Hux's face in the shuttle bay. He began jabbing at the alarm again.

"318-657! Ren, I'm not coming to the door!"

Kylo paused again, debated leaning on the alarm until Hux answered the door himself. But he was tired of standing out in the hallway, and wanted to rail at Hux in person, so he decided to let himself in. He opened the door and stomped across the threshold, then stopped short, his black robe swaying forward around him.

Hux sat on his bed, scowling over at Kylo across the small room. Kylo had been shocked to silence when he realized that Hux was sitting on the bed, arms crossed, one ankle resting on the opposite knee.

And he was completely naked. Which was so unlike Hux, in the middle of the day, that Kylo could do nothing but stand and stare at Hux's flaccid penis, there on full display between his spread thighs. Hux was rarely completely naked when they were together, and never with the lights on like this. Kylo yanked his gaze up to drink in the sight greedily. The delicate dusting of freckles along Hux's shoulders and arms, the hair that started below his navel and trailed down to his legs. His pale thighs, firm and well-muscled, begging to have Kylo's hands around them and his face between them-

"Ren. Nobody else wants to see me naked. Close the door." Hux's eyebrows drew together in in irritation.

His anger gone, knocked out of him with surprise and a surge of lust, Kylo twisted and raised his hand to the inside panel and closed the door. He turned to stare at Hux again, trying to figure out what was going on, and letting his gaze linger on his well-defined collarbone, tracing its line along his neck and between his shoulders, just so.

They sat in silence for a full minute. Kylo was surprised Hux had let him stare that long, wasn't sure what was happening here. But he was intrigued, and appreciated the view. "I would have preferred you pick me up in the shuttle bay, but this is a nice surprise."

Hux's annoyance flickered across his face again, and Kylo's stomach tightened in anticipation. "This isn't intentional. Did you bring clothes?"

Kylo grabbed the roll of dark clothes he held under one arm, and held it out to Hux. Hux's sour expression remained as he looked at them.

"Ren, these are your clothes!" He leaned forward to grab them, then unrolled them. "You bunched them up! They're wrinkled, and... filthy?" His look of annoyance had turned to disgust. "Why would you bring me your dirty clothes?"

Kylo anticipation warred with his returning annoyance at being snubbed at the shuttle bay. He let it show. "You told me to bring clothes! How was I supposed to know what you wanted? These were the only clothes I had."

"How were you supposed to know what I wanted?" Hux was looking at the clothes in his lap, looked back up at Kylo, obviously both angry and amused, a combination that only Hux seemed to possess. "Aren't you supposed to be a mind reader? Why would I want your dirty clothes? I can't walk around the ship in these. Dirty Knight clothes. What do you think people will say?"

The mind reader comment was a dig, and it hit home. Hux frequently insulted him, but not often about his Force abilities, which was a sensitive subject. But even stranger than that was what Hux was really saying. Kylo's brows drew together in confusion.

"Why would you walk around the ship in them? Why wouldn't you wear one of your uniforms?" Here, he turned to look at Hux's closet, which was a smoking ruin in the wall. He turned back to Hux. "What happened to your clothes?"

Hux looked down at the clothes in his lap again. "Long story." He turned away from Kylo, looking uncomfortable, and blushing slightly. "Look, could you... if I put in an order for a uniform, could you pick it up for me?"

Kylo was shocked, and let it show on his face. This whole situation was so unlike Hux, that he didn't really know how to react. "You don't... you don't have anything to wear out of here? Except for my change of clothes? Why did you burn everything you own?"

Hux turned back, turning even more red. "It wasn't intentional! I was sleeping, and..." He looked down again. "They were all in there when the closet burned."

Kylo was charmed by Hux's discomposure, something else he didn't often see. In fact, he had never seen Hux more uncomfortable. He wanted to enjoy it more, but the situation kept raising more questions than answering them. He stepped forward, closer to the bed.

"Why was your closet burning while you were naked in bed, Hux?"

The blush was creeping down Hux's neck, onto his chest. Kylo hadn't seen him in two weeks, and here he was, naked and blushing, so embarrassed about something he couldn't even tell Kylo. Kylo was curious, but his arousal was beginning to override other concerns.

"I had... I had a bad dream."

Ice trickled down Kylo's spine, promptly quenching his arousal. He stopped short, standing straighter, thinking of his vision. But, of course, Hux hadn't had anything like that. He wasn't a Force user. Grandfather couldn't speak to Hux. Still. Perhaps there was some way to send a nightmare...

"Oh? What was it about?"

Hux glanced at his closet again, and back into his lap, his blush receding. "There was someone in my room, so I tried to shoot them. I shot my closet instead." He shook his head. "Stupid. I'll have to order new uniforms, and it'll come out of my pay."

Kylo narrowed his eyes. It was a reasonable explanation, but something about it rang false, and it was unlike Hux to dream vividly.

Still. This was a little... uncanny.

"Who was in your room?"

Hux looked up at him. Met his eyes. Kylo didn't drop his gaze.

"It was just a dream. I don't see that it matters."

Kylo hesitated. "What if it wasn't just a dream?"

Hux turned back to his closet. "You mean, what if it was some mystical Force bullshit?" Hux laughed, then turned back to glare witheringly at Kylo. "Do you have some lessons in the Force to impart, Ren? Here to tell me how useful it was on your mission?"

Kylo turned away, growing angry. He had been hoping that Hux would help him forget about the mission as soon as he stepped off the shuttle. But of course Hux already knew, and of course he would bring it up. He tried to think of something to say, some lie, something that went right, but he waited too long, and Hux would have read the mission report anyway, because it was a public record and he always did before Kylo came back.

"I don't think the Force was very useful, was it? You didn't interrogate the prisoner, you were shot with a blaster, and it says the target tried to escape by hitting you across the back of the head."

Kylo turned back. "It wasn't... it wasn't that bad."

"Very professional, for someone who's job it is to fight and execute rebels. I told you to wear a mask and helmet."

"They look stupid." Kylo hated the way they looked. Had been fighting Hux about this for as long as they'd been sleeping together.

Hux raised his eyebrows. "You need to protect your head in combat."

"I can use the Force!" Kylo argued hotly. "I don't need a helmet! The J-"

He cut himself off, but of course Hux knew what he was about to say, because he could read Kylo's mind without the Force, like a true aberration. Hux smirked.

"The Jedi didn't wear helmets, no. But you're obviously not a Jedi, and have, in fact, been hit in the head. Perhaps a helmet might help."

Kylo scowled. "I'm not wearing a helmet."

Hux studied him. "It would hide your face. Would it help, if you were trying to do a mind probe, if the person was more scared or intimidated by you?"

Kylo snapped his mouth closed, seething. It would. He didn't know how Hux had learned that, but it would. Most people found him frightening, but not nearly enough for Kylo to get inside their heads. He didn't want to concede the point.

Hux rolled his eyes. "It's the only way anyone would find you threatening or intimidating, at the rate you're going."

"It... it would block my vision." Kylo was groping for reasons not to wear the helmet. He didn't like them. They really did look stupid, but that excuse didn't work on Hux.

"Use the Force, Kylo."

"That's not how the Force works!"

Hux looked triumphant. "You've told me before that's exactly how the Force works. That the initial Jedi training - that you went through, in your words - involved blindfolding and striking remotes, blocking laser fire." Hux pursed his lips. "Those all seem like relevant skills, based on a field report that someone has recently given me. Where's your Force, Kylo?"

Kylo was silent, now. This blow hit closer to home than Hux's usual arguments, and he didn't want Hux to continue. He was growing furious under the scrutiny.

"I don't know why you're so against this. You wouldn't have to wear one like a Stormtrooper. Yours even looks a lot like Darth V-"

He cut himself off and looked away, toward his closet. The cold feeling went down Kylo's spine again, and his heart hammered in his chest. Both were silent for a moment.

"Fuck Darth Vader." Hux turned back to him, looking more cold now.

Kylo looked at him, tried to stop himself from glancing around the room, tried to block the Force that was suddenly surging through him powerfully, of course, when he didn't ask for it, and had to imagine his grandfather watching him with naked Hux in Hux's bedroom.

Hux's eyebrows drew together again, and Kylo felt another chill down his spine when Hux responded in a way that almost made him wonder if he could see into his thoughts with the Force himself.

"I... I don't think-." He stopped, looked down into his lap. "I don't think we should do... what we normally do today." He looked back up, his face composed into his usual arrogant expression, hiding whatever it was he was trying to conceal from Kylo. Or maybe Kylo was just projecting his own fears onto Hux, and it really had been a bad dream. "All of my things were burned in the fire, so. We'll have to try something different today."

Kylo frowned, glancing at the closet with regret now. Hux meant the toys, the ties and things. He turned back.

"I've been looking forward to that for weeks."

Hux turned and looked into the closet again, his face unreadable, turned back to Kylo. "I was thinking. How well can you control the Force? What can you actually do with it?"

Kylo took a step back. "Is this a trick question?"

Hux studied him, still unreadable. "No, it's not. But I was thinking, I suppose, if you can use the Force to- to grab things. To touch. And to read my mind. That might be worth investigating. Since." He gestured to the closet.

"I..." He felt the Force, surging through him. Thought of his grandfather. Pushed the thought out of his mind. "You know I'm not very good at it."

"I'm not sure what that means. Honestly, I don't really pay attention when you talk about it. Does that mean you can't use it at all, or you're not good and you might give me a stroke?"

Kylo scowled at the insult, then dropped his eyes to Hux's dick again, which was beginning to get hard. He let the Force flow through him. Thought about his grandfather. Stalled.

"Hux. This really isn't... turning me on. It's not good. I don't feel like it right now."

Hux shifted. "Then do you feel like getting me some clothes? Because those are your options. Go get me some clothes, or use the Force to get me off."

Kylo began to sweat. The Force pressed in harder. He could practically hear his grandfather's breathing apparatus. "I can't use the Force to get you off right now."

"Then I'm going to need clothes. We can go do something else, if you want. Or not. Just bring me clothes and go, if you want to." Hux looked annoyed. Kylo hoped it was because Hux had missed him too. But he wasn't sure what Hux meant when he suggested that Kylo wanted to be alone. What did Hux think he did when he wasn't in Hux's room, aside from work? Kylo didn't know if he even had his own room. Maybe someone else lived there now.

He wanted to have sex. He did. Fuck the Force. He stepped forward and bent down, kissing Hux hard.

Hux responded, grabbing the back of Kylo's head with one hand and his arm with the other. He drew Kylo down, kneeling him on the floor, bending down to kiss him without breaking contact. Kylo gripped Hux's thighs. Pulled away, looked into his face. Hux always looked angry, even while doing this. Kylo appreciated that. He leaned in and kept kissing, Hux pulling Kylo's head painfully into his own face, sinking his fingers into Kylo's arm hard enough to hurt. Kylo did the same to Hux's thighs.

He pulled away again, panting slightly, staring at Hux's mouth. Considered dropping down and taking Hux's growing erection in his mouth. Closes his eyes to consider.

Can feel Hux breathing in and out against his lips.

In and out.

Breathing.

Kylo pulled away, stood up. Put his hands over his face. Couldn't bear to look at Hux.

"Okay. I had a bad dream last night too. I'm sorry, I can't do this right now." It sounded pathetic when he said it out loud. It was pathetic. He hoped Hux's dream was bad enough to generate sympathy instead of derision. He kept his face covered.

He heard Hux shifting. "What could you have possibly dreamed about that would kill your sex drive? You quite literally get off on nightmares. There is nothing I haven't done to you." Hux sounded concerned, which was incredible. Kylo lowered his hands to stare at him. Hux's expression was his usual arrogance, revealing nothing. Kylo still felt concern, or imagined he could. It's hard to tell with Hux.

Hux continued, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Do I even want to know what kind of horror you imagined in the bedroom?"

"I don't want to talk about it. But let's do something else." He lowered his hands back to his sides.

Hux pushed his legs together. "What do you think I'm going to do, naked and with an erection, besides fuck you? Go get me a new uniform, and we'll practice sabers or something."

Kylo smirked, and Hux's expression turned wary. Kylo took two steps forward, and retrieved his clothes from the ground. "Come with me to get your clothes. I brought you something to wear."

Hux blushed again, looking angry. It was gratifying. "I'm not going out in- in your clothes. With you. No."

"I think you are, if you want something else to wear. Or do you have another friend who will show up at your door with a change of clothes for you?"

Kylo knew Hux didn't have friends. So did Hux.

Hux scowled.

"My clothes, with me, or naked. Your choice."

Kylo was somewhat glad Hux couldn't use the Force, because he was fairly certain he would have been killed with Hux's glare alone.

 


End file.
